Jay Wiseman's Erotic Bondage Handbook review

I was so excited to get this book (Jay Wiseman's Bondage Handbook) as my next review. I have been interested in rope bondage for what seems like forever now, and couldn’t wait to dive into it and start really learning.

And learn I did. For the first 85 pages, I did nothing but learned all about safety information. Now while this was useful (and probably more so to a total BDSM beginner), some of it seemed a little bit common sense. There were statements that were along the lines of a sleepy top would find it hard to stay alert. This seems awful common sense, but I suppose, like anything there are those out there that need to be told what others deem obvious.

From there, there was a fantastic section on rope. It covers the different types, and the pros and cons for each. This was a section that I really, really learned from. I think, like a lot of people, I’ve gone years thinking that rope was rope. Mr. Wiseman sure cured that thought in a hurry.

I really found this book to be really good for beginners, with a few exceptions. Sadly, there is no photography to be found in this book. For someone like me, who is a visual learner, it was quite disappointing to find out that all illustrations were simply line drawing and they weren’t always totally adequate in showing the steps to certain ties.

One of the other things that I found quite confusing were the various boxed out quotes that were sprinkled through out the books. Now, I love a good quote, but I tend to prefer them to actually have something to do with what I’m actually reading. They never seemed to correspond to the actual material on the page they were on.

Over all, I think this is a really good book for someone just getting into Bondage. While there aren’t sections on suspension, long term ties or Shibari, there are plenty of sections to get a beginner going in areas such as tying single limbs, "I bet you can't get loose" games, double wrist and ankle, spread-eagle, hogtie, gags and ear muffs, male and female genital bondage and breast bondage.